This year in math we used a unit called Connected Mathematics 2. This system is very, very different from textbooks we’ve had in the past. In the beginning of the year I was so confused. As the year progressed, I understood more of the book and how it worked.
Connected Mathematics 2 is made up of eight units or books. So far, we’ve worked through 6 of them. The units we covered so far include: Prime Time, Bits and Pieces I, Bits and Pieces II, Shapes and Designs, Covering and Surrounding, and now we’re working on How Likely is it. In each book there are at least four chapters or what they call investigations. There are usually 4 or five problems in one investigation. Every day in math class, we do one problem, and then we have homework in the ACE section in the text book. ACE stands for Applications, Connections, and Extensions. The next day, we go over the homework from the night before. Also at the end of each investigation we answer questions which make up our Math Reflections. Here is an example of an ACE page from Covering and Surrounding:
Everything that we work on in class and for homework, we record on what we call investigation sheets. On the investigation sheets we put the date, the book/unit we’re on, the investigation number, page number(s), and the problem. In our math binder we have four sections, class work, homework, assessments (tests, quizzes, etc.), and reference. Adding to the list, we have Lab Sheets that help us with sections of the books. We also have a vocabulary notebook where we write down all our vocab words from the unit. In the back of every book there’s a glossary with all the words from the unit. At the end of our unit, we hand in our class work, homework, assessments, and vocab into Mrs. Mannon to get our notebook grade. Another thing we have to hand in is called our Notebook Checklist where we write down all our homework assignments.
In the beginning of every unit we answer “Focus Questions” as a class that can be usually found on page 2 of every book. These questions reflect on what questions will be like in the book. Also, these questions get us curious about the unit. This makes us want to open the book and look around to see how hard the other questions are. and get us thinking about what the whole unit’s about. You might see questions similar to these in some investigations and ACE homework.
Another thing that is at the beginning of each book is “Mathematical Highlights”. These preview important things that you will learn in the book. They also help us follow where we are in the unit and how much is left. An additional thing they do is offer us with a base of what we will be learning about the following unit. Mathematical Highlights is also a super duper place where parents can refer to if they want to see what we’re learning about in math class. Here is an example of a Mathematical Highlights page from Shapes and Designs: http://connectedmath.msu.edu/components/images/math_highlights_covering.jpg
Out of ALL the units we have done so far, I have to say I like Shapes and Designs the best. I like Shapes and Designs the best because I love shapes and learning about them! The book is basically about polygons. Some polygons we learned about include triangles, squares, rectangles, parallelograms, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, nonagons, octagons, regular polygons, and irregular polygons. Also we learned about angles and how to measure them with an angle ruler. Don’t worry though, we used protractors too! Adding to the list, we learned how and why shapes tile into a tessellation. Did you ever hear of angle sums? Well I have because I learned about them in Shapes and Designs! For example, the angle sum of a triangle is 180º because the sum of all the angles in a triangle equal 180º! I’m really going to miss this math class next year. I can’t even explain how much fun we’ve had. Even though I won’t be in Mrs. Mannon’s math class I’ll always think, Connected Math!
This year in math we used a unit called Connected Mathematics 2. This system is very, very different from textbooks we’ve had in the past. In the beginning of the year I was so confused. As the year progressed, I understood more of the book and how it worked.
Connected Mathematics 2 is made up of eight units or books. So far, we’ve worked through 6 of them. The units we covered so far include: Prime Time, Bits and Pieces I, Bits and Pieces II, Shapes and Designs, Covering and Surrounding, and now we’re working on How Likely is it. In each book there are at least four chapters or what they call i
http://connectedmath.msu.edu/pnd/images/covering/covering_ace_3.jpg
Everything that we work on in class and for homework, we record on what we call investigation sheets. On the investigation sheets we put the date, the book/unit we’re on, the investigation number, page number(s), and the problem. In our math binder we have four sections, class work, homework, assessments (tests, quizzes, etc.), and reference. Adding to the list, we have Lab Sheets that help us with sections of the books. We also have a vocabulary notebook where we write down all our vocab words from the unit. In the back of every book there’s a glossary with all the words from the unit. At the end of our unit, we hand in our class work, homework, assessments, and vocab into Mrs. Mannon to get our notebook grade. Another thing we have to hand in is called our Notebook Checklist where we write down all our homework assignments.
In the beginning of every unit we answer “Focus Questions” as a class that can be usually found on page 2 of every book. These questions reflect on what questions will be like in the book. Also, these questions get us curious about the unit. This makes us want to open the book and look around to see how hard the other questions are. and get us thinking about what the whole unit’s about. You might see questions similar to these in some investigations and ACE homework.
Another thing that is at the beginning of each book is “Mathematical Highlights”. These preview important things that you will learn in the book. They also help us follow where we are in the unit and how much is left. An additional thing they do is offer us with a base of what we will be learning about the following unit. Mathematical Highlights is also a super duper place where parents can refer to if they want to see what we’re learning about in math class. Here is an example of a Mathematical Highlights page from Shapes and Designs:
http://connectedmath.msu.edu/components/images/math_highlights_covering.jpg
Out of ALL the units we have done so far, I have to say I like Shapes and Designs the best. I like Shapes and Designs the best because I love shapes and learning about them! The book is basically about polygons. Some polygons we learned about include triangles, squares, rectangles, parallelograms, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons, nonagons, octagons, regular polygons, and irregular polygons. Also we learned about angles and how to measure them with an angle ruler. Don’t worry though, we used protractors too! Adding to the list, we learned how and why shapes tile into a tessellation. Did you ever hear of angle sums? Well I have because I learned about them in Shapes and Designs! For example, the angle sum of a triangle is 180º because the sum of all the angles in a triangle equal 180º!
I’m really going to miss this math class next year. I can’t even explain how much fun we’ve had. Even though I won’t be in Mrs. Mannon’s math class I’ll always think, Connected Math!
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